Reflections on Republocrat: The Trouble with Capitalism
Capitalism—should Christians endorse it with enthusiasm? Accept it with reservations? Utterly reject it? Just ignore it? Questions like these are at the heart of the fourth chapter of Carl Trueman’s book Repuplocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative.
Overview
This chapter (“Living Life to the Max”) is book’s weakest so far. Key terms shift in meaning, the problems under attack lack the kind of concrete examples found in other chapters, claims seem contradictory at times, and the thesis is less clear.
The thrust of the chapter seems to be that although capitalism is the best economic system the world has yet seen, and we have no idea what would be better, it’s attendant ills are such that we need to make sure we’re sufficiently critical of it.
Discussion
"The power of the homeschool lobby in Republican politics"
Body
“…the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities… —it’s reasonably clear the big problem was the opposition of homeschoolers.”
Ed Kilgore, Washington Monthly
Discussion
Will America get "more religious" in coming decades?
Body
Gallup editor: “Americans’ level of religiosity to increase over the next 20 years because the number of Americans 65 and older will double over the next 20 years.”
Discussion
"Big changes" in psychiatry's upcoming DSM-V
Body
“[T]he fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, will be official when it is published in May 2013.” E.g., disruptive mood dysregulation disorder replaces “spoiled brat” and depression disorder replaces “prolonged grief.”
Discussion